Sick Country, Sick Cattle Markets

Sick Country, Sick Cattle Markets

Larry Stalcup

Calf News

There have been wrecks, bad ones, like the 1970s beef price freeze, the ‘80s whole-herd dairy buyout and the 2008 recession that have cost the beef industry big. Then there’s this virus – ‘nuff said. With COVID-19, the beef industry has projected losses that top $13 billion. There’s continued worry that agriculture’s share of the government’s trillion-dollar stimulus packages won’t offset already-crashed cattle prices.

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Divide and Conquer

Divide and Conquer

Dr. Justin Rhinehart

University of Tennessee

I am confident that the division of labor theory, as explained by Adam Smith over 240 years ago, is still the best approach to increasing the efficiency of our labor. For example, one of the most well known examples of division of labor was Henry Ford’s use of an assembly line where each worker performs a specific task in the auto manufacturing process.

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Fly Control for Grazing Cattle

Fly Control for Grazing Cattle

Bob Larson

Angus Journal

Several types of flies can cause problems for cattle. Some types of flies are a greater problem for cattle on pasture, while different types of flies are primarily a concern for cattle in a drylot. Producers with grazing cattle typically focus on battling horn flies and face flies.

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5 tips for choosing probiotics and prebiotics

5 tips for choosing probiotics and prebiotics

Kip Karges

Progressive Cattle

Many producers I’ve talked to seem interested – and exhausted – by the number of probiotic and prebiotic feed options. Yeasts, yeast derivatives, yeast cultures and dead yeast products often are called probiotics and prebiotics.

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Is Blockchain the Answer to Price Discovery?

Is Blockchain the Answer to Price Discovery?

Victoria Myers

Progressive Farmer

There are ways to have more price reporting without a government mandate or adding costs to cattle procurement. Known simply as “blockchain technology,” many leaders in the cattle industry believe it’s a viable option today.

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How to get new feedlot calves settled and gaining quickly; advice from producers, veterinarians and feedlot consultants

How to get new feedlot calves settled and gaining quickly; advice from producers, veterinarians and feedlot consultants

BeefResearch.ca

Getting calves settled, keeping them healthy and getting them gaining involves serious management that considers many variables. A successful program to keep these calves healthy and growing should involve co-operative consultation between the feeder, herd health veterinarian and the livestock nutritionist.

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Indiana Beef Cattle Association Announces 2020 Scholarship Winners

Indiana Beef Cattle Association Announces 2020 Scholarship Winners

Eric Pfeiffer

Hoosier AG Today

The Indiana Beef Cattle Association has announced the recipients of this year’s scholarships. IBCA awarded $6,000 to students who are currently enrolled in college and who plan to continue their education through an undergraduate degree program or certification from an accredited college, university, or technical school.

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Brahman-type cattle may require less nitrogen; feeding them accordingly could reduce nitrogen emissions

Brahman-type cattle may require less nitrogen; feeding them accordingly could reduce nitrogen emissions

Kay Ledbetter

AgriLife Today

A recently funded Texas A&M AgriLife study will determine differences in nitrogen requirements between Brahman type cattle and other cattle. Measuring these differences may allow cattle producers to reduce the protein in cattle diets by allowing for precise diet formulations.

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NCBA Adopts Cattle Marketing Policy

NCBA Adopts Cattle Marketing Policy

Drovers

A capacity crowd of cattle producers worked for more than six hours Wednesday to identify a policy that would help resolve concerns about live cattle marketing issues and lead the industry to more robust price discovery. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Live Cattle Marketing Committee considered several proposals, each aimed at encouraging greater volumes of cash cattle trade.

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Minerals Matter – Introduction to mineral nutrition

Minerals Matter – Introduction to mineral nutrition

Lynn Gordon

Beef Magazine

Although their percentage of the diet is small, minerals pack a big punch in the beef cattle herd. Producers seeking solutions to poor pregnancy rates, weak newborn calves or other reproductive or performance issues should not overlook a thorough review of their beef herd mineral program.

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Mark Parker: The Top 10 emails a farmer receives

Mark Parker: The Top 10 emails a farmer receives

#10. Recall notice: Semen you used a few months back was actually from an easy-calving Corriente bull.

#9. Eastern European mail-order bride link — wife says it’s fine as long as Mladenka cooks, cleans and runs to town for parts.

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Stockpiling Forages for Winter Feed

Stockpiling Forages for Winter Feed

During her July Farm Talk Breakfast, Noble County AgNR Educator Christine Gelley hosted Chris Penrose, AgNR Educator in Morgan County speaking on extending the grazing season through stockpiling. Now is the time to get started stockpiling, and this is Penrose’s presentation describing how to best manage for successful stockpiling.

Weighing the healthy value of fall calving

Weighing the healthy value of fall calving

Chris Thomsen

Progressive Cattle

For most cow-calf producers, fall typically means weaning the calf crop. Yet for many producers, it also means fall calving. According to the USDA-NASS Cattle Inventory report, approximately 27% of calves were born during the second half of 2019.

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Divisions Deepen in the Cattle Industry Over Price Discovery

Divisions Deepen in the Cattle Industry Over Price Discovery

Victoria Myers

Progressive Farmer

Cattle producers from one end of the country to the other are convinced their markets were long-ago hijacked by the “Big Four.” Namely, they blame Cargill, JBS, National Beef and Tyson—who collectively control more than 80% of the U.S. slaughter market for beef—for pricing inequities.

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Recycled tires might be your water-source solution

Recycled tires might be your water-source solution

Becky Mills

Angus Journal

Workhorse Water Troughs Recycled tires might be your water-source solution.by Becky Mills, field editor If you’re thinking about putting in a rotational grazing system, or you want to fence your cattle out of a creek or pond, then water is on your mind. At Eden Shale Farm, water troughs made from heavy equipment tires are the solution.

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What To Do in a Summer Storm

What To Do in a Summer Storm

Leif Bakken

Northern AG Network

Northern Ag territory is no stranger to changing weather conditions. Some people think of themselves as ‘storm chasers’getting amazing videos and photos as a system to develops, farmers and ranchers hope their commodity makes it out unscathed. South Dakota State University extension gives some tips for summer storm preparedness.

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Feed Testing & Analysis for Beef Cattle

Feed Testing & Analysis for Beef Cattle

Beef Cattle Research Council

When you don’t know the quality of feed on an operation, maintaining animal health and welfare can become significantly more difficult. Visual assessment of feedstuffs is not accurate enough to access quality and may lead to cows being underfed and losing body condition, or wasting money on expensive supplements that aren’t necessary.

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Tips to Plan for Silage Harvest

Tips to Plan for Silage Harvest

Drovers

It’s hard to believe that silage harvest is just a few months away. Starting the planning process now can make the entire process go much smoother when it arrives. Following are planning tips from Luiz Ferraretto, assistant professor and ruminant nutrition extension specialist at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Cattle pricing investigation leaves producers unsatisfied

Cattle pricing investigation leaves producers unsatisfied

Eric Bohl

Daily Journal

In late July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report on the difference between the prices of live cattle and processed meat. To those outside the industry, this report probably sounded like a run-of-the-mill government document. But cattle producers have been anxiously awaiting its findings for nearly a year. Since Missouri is a top-three state in cattle inventory with many small producers, improvement to the opaque cattle market could have a huge positive impact on our state.

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4 tips to keep pinkeye at bay

4 tips to keep pinkeye at bay

Amanda Radke

Beef Magazine

In the summer months, as cattle graze on pastures, there are many considerations to think about — creep feeding, managing noxious weeds, fixing fence, breeding windows, watching for signs of pneumonia in calves, setting a weaning date, haying and the list goes on and on.

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